Salute 2010 Report/Photo's

[clibinarium]

Just wondering what the verdict on Salute was?

I noticed Leon was back posting  

[Leon]

Literally just got back mate, Dave dropped me off at the in-laws in time for Sunday lunch, so just got back home.  Gonna grab a shower, then head round to Pendraken HQ to get a takeaway with the folks.  I left the camera in the van, so I'll get the pics up sometime tonight/tomorrow with a short report!

[Patrick R]

It seemed a mixed Salute to me.

Got pretty much what I wanted (and a few things more), but I missed a lot of people who didn't attend or didn't have a stand (or I completely missed wandering around)

Several traders didn't show up and some gaming tables were very conspicuously empty.  I'm done with speculating, but Salute may be dipping a bit.

Had a great time otherwise.

[Leon]

We got back from Salute this afternoon, after a thoroughly enjoyable weekend away.  It was my very first time at this show, although Dave has obviously been going for years now.  My first impressions were that it is tremendously well-planned.  The organisation fom start to finish was excellent and it gave the show a different 'feel' in my opinion.  Nothing against the other shows we go to, but Salute has a 'Big Day' feel to it?  

We travelled down Thursday night, and stayed over with a friend of Dave's and headed over to the Excel at lunchtime Friday to set up.  All of the traders are put into lanes, so that when the venue opens for unloading, everyone goes in in the order they arrived.  We arrived quite early and had a good 45 minutes outside in the sun, chatting with Brian from Mutineer Mini's, 'dab' from the Forum, and (eventually!) Marco from RifRaf.  Setting up was quick and easy, driving the van right in and up to the stand, so we were out again within 45 minutes.

Saturday morning we arrived just before 8 and it was madness, people everywhere, vans coming and going, etc.  So we got set up, got our usual bacon butty (which came in a bagel, just as a reminder you were in an expensive venue  ) then I set off with the camera to grab some pics before the doors opened.  There was a sizeable queue outside as I wandered round, with an army of Warlords quickly preparing the opening.  Unfortunately I didn't get as many pics as I would have liked, I simply didn't get chance, so if anyone else has any please add them to this thread.

Once the doors opened, as hectic as it was, it was actually good fun.  The stand was busy, we had various people coming up for a chat (including some of the guys from the Forum), and we were taking pics of people in 'The Hat' (see below), in amongst actually selling some stuff!  I managed to get away from the stand for half an hour towards the end of the day and had a wander around to get some more pics and chat with the other traders.  The general consensus was good, although a couple of people weren't sure on the numbers throught the door compared to last year.  Maybe the flights/ash situation had an affect on the continental visitors?

The show closed promply at 5pm, with 15 minutes for people to make their way out of the venue.  We got packed up quickly, Dave brought the van it at 5:45, avoided running over any chairs  , and we were on the road by 6:15, heading back to Dave's friends house for a nice cold beer (actually, cider for Dave and Coke for me!) after a busy but enjoyable day at Salute.  Pete and Igor from Baccus met us there, alcohol was consumed and various important/worthless debates ensued, from the complexities of 20th Century aircraft design, to the prospect of another series of Red Dwarf.  

All in all, I had a great day, although I'd have liked more time to look about.  There was the odd empty table, as Patrick R mentioned above, but these seemed to get used by people looking for somewhere to sit, so it wasn't that noticeable.  I had a bit of trouble finding some of the traders, but I'd forgotten my map, and I was in a rush, so that was my own fault really.  Only real bugbear was the price of the food on offer, but it is London and I am a tight Northerner...

So, I'll get on with the pics, but please add any comments/reviews/photo's of your own.

[Leon]

View of the hall from our corner:



The Pendraken Stand:






Some of our South Pacific War display figures:

[Leon]

The Giant Tank's were there, which I found greatly impressive.  Some of the other people didn't have the same appreciation, as they are quite loud! They drove these around the hall at regular intervals.

[Leon]

They had some smaller tanks set up with lasers/sensors for the (big)kids to chase each other around.  This looked like fun, but I didn't get chance to play.   



I personally thought this was genius, Subbuteo, WW1 Xmas Day style!



Like I said, the organisation was fantastic, but I thought the security was a bit excessive:

[Leon]

The AWI display game:

[Leon]

A quick shot of a nice Fantasy game:

[Leon]

One of our customers popped by with some of our newly released FPW Brunswickers:

[Leon]

And the 'Cat in the Hat' photo's!  Although some of the people felt more like something that sounds like 'Cat'...      Now I know that it should be 'Cat in the Helmet', but that doesn't rhyme at all.  If this proves popular, we might pick up a couple of other ones for some variety.

I'll start a separate thread purely for these pics, but for now, here you go!

Firstly, The Hat:

[Leon]

Marco from RifRaf, a Forum member:



Our Spanish friends from Club Landwehr:

[Leon]

Some more show visitors:

[Leon]

Another three of our Forum members (I'll leave them to identify themselves if they want to!)

[goat major]

My first time at Salute and i really enjoyed it - not sure i would do it every year though because its a long journey. It certainly has a special feel though. Bernie's 10mm AWI game was very nice and he managed to persuade me to buy some rules as well

Its the first time i've seen the new style Pendraken trade stand and i was very impressed guys - looked very professional and stood out nicely. There were quite a few traders that i struggled to find in the hall but your banner stood out very visibly.